Croatia down Switzerland to clinch Hopman Cup title

PARIS – Croatia’s Borna Coric battled past Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to seal a 2-0 victory in the Hopman Cup final that earned his country only their second title in the mixed-gender team competition.

Coric’s victory followed Donna Vekic’s comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over Celine Naef and means Croatia become the first team to lift the trophy following the tournament’s return to the tennis calendar after a four-year absence.

Switzerland are among the most successful countries in the event – which began in 1989 and was named after Australian great Harry Hopman – having won four titles, including the 2019 crown on the back of the now-retired Roger Federer’s heroics.

Without the seasoned Belinda Bencic due to withdrawal, the young Swiss team scored victories over Denmark and France to top Group A in 2023 but ran out of steam against Croatia in the title clash on the clay courts of Nice.

World No. 15 Coric raced through the opening set in 31 minutes and recovered from an early loss of serve in the next to close out the win and break Swiss hearts.

Earlier, Vekic exchanged breaks with Naef early in the first set of the opening match of the tie, before the more experienced world No. 22 pounced on her Swiss opponent’s serve in the eighth game en route to wrapping up the set.

Vekic showed plenty of patience and skill in the second set to stave off a comeback attempt by Naef, who slipped and took a tumble late in the contest before crashing to her third defeat in as many singles matches in the tournament.

Croatia previously won the title in 1996 when they beat the same opponents in the final in Perth on a hard court, with Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli the architects of that triumph.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic will not play at August’s Canadian Masters in Toronto due to fatigue, organisers announced on Sunday.

The 36-year-old Serb lost a thrilling five-set Wimbledon final to Spain’s world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz a week ago.

“I have always enjoyed my time in Canada but after speaking with my team we believe this is the right decision to take,” said Djokovic, who has won the tournament four times. “I really hope I can return to Canada and Toronto in the coming years to play in front of great fans there.”

American Christopher Eubanks will replace 23-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic in the main draw. The ATP 1000 event will be played from Aug 7 to 13.

On the women’s circuit, China’s Zheng Qinwen captured her first WTA title on Sunday with a three-set win over Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the Palermo clay-court final.

The 20-year-old Zheng, ranked 24th in the world, came through 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 against her 47th-ranked opponent, registering her 20th match win of the year.

It was Zheng’s second career final after finishing runner-up in Tokyo in 2022.

She becomes the 11th Chinese woman to win a WTA singles title and second in 2023 after Zhu Lin triumphed at Hua Hin in Thailand in February.

“I won my first WTA match here and also my first WTA title, but you probably don’t know that I won my first ITF (International Tennis Federation) championship in Italy,” said Zheng, whose three-hour semi-final win over Mayar Sherif of Egypt ended only in the early hours of Sunday. “This is really special for me. This is my first WTA 250 championship. I will remember this.” REUTERS, AFP